Only two links today but first leads to free product (always welcomed I think) and second to a long list of how-tos and guides about terrain making. Ok, first link is here, it is Ambush Alley Games store with a free Force on Force scenario primer. It contains six "typical" scenarios for this game with ready made generic force list and two "army" lists from specific period. Periods covered - from WW2 to modern. Worth downloading if only for "later use".

Second link will take us to the page full of nice guides. They range from really easy to make ones (with common materials like cardboard, mdf, etc.), to rather complicated (plaster castings, moulds, etc.). I think everyone should find there something for his tastes. Enjoy and - as usual - leave a sign of reading it;)

I'm slowly finishing painting of ottoman riders and meanwhile, when I'm really tired of painting them, I slowly work on miniatures from different periods. I'm interested in Flames of War for some time now. Platoon of Shermans for my planned Polish 1st. Armoured Division is bought and first tank is almost ready, I'm waiting for correct decals to arrive right now. So I decided to start test painting my second "army" - german paratroopers from late war period. I have never painted infantry from Flames of War, pictures on the Web are rather poor quality so I thought miniatures are not that well. I was wrong. Minis are fantastic, sculpt is very good. Weapons are a little exageratted (I like it) and uniforms and gear are detailed, especially for 15 mm scale. Both test miniatures were painted in camo suits, painted partly as in tutorial on Flames of War official site. I decided against painting actual green splinters, as they would be hugely out of scale. Instead I washed entire jumpsuit with green, muddy wash, darkening and greening at the same time basic color. And it works for me. Both weapon were painted with NMM. Carbine is ok, machine gun slightly less then ok but I think it looks more realistic anyway then being painted with metallic paint. I have to experiment with this a little more. Pictures are little blurred, in real life miniatures look much better and I'm really pleased with them. I will paint more "green devils" in this way. Base on the picture is temporary of course, final one will be bigger and with two additional soldiers.

A little update for besli riders. I'm still working on them, they are being painted for "Fire and sword" little painting contest from official game forum. Time to finish them is very short, I just begun to paint riders themselves, and - to make things even worse - I have a lot of work at my job lately. Well, maybe I can do it in time. Current progress of the painting is visible above, horses are ready. Mounts by Wargamer are nice to paint, sculpt is deep, reins and saddles are detailed, there are many additional things sculpted too, like some blankets, etc. Good impression is spoiled a little by some moulds faults. I have a feeling too, that these miniatures takes well very strong contrast, strongly defining muscles. I'm using a good digital camera for a few days, still I'm learning to make photos with it, so pictures are not the best...

Next part of rummaging through my brother's miniatures case. This time miniature definitely closer to my liking, High Queen Khalida from Tomb Kings army. Enbodiment of Asp Godess, enbodiment of fury, terror itself and some other nasty things too probably. Never mind, just like week ago I couldn't get any "hard" informations from my brother - well, paints used were the same, that's for sure. Painting is close to the original painting from the producer with subtle twists - I think it looks better. Heros and lords of Tomb Kings have had luck with good sculptor, by the way.

It's Sunday so it's time for yet another "Chosen from the week" featurette. First - hero barely connected with wargames nowadays (in long forgotten past he was one of the Games Workshop old Citadel Journal heroes). Long time ago he was part of my "professional" life and I really, really like him. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce - Thrud The Barbarian. He may be known to some readers old enough to remember early issues of Polish rpg magazine "Magia i miecz", younglings can still find it in the depths of the Internet I think:) To say it shortly - Thrud RULEZ. I didn't know that there are more and new issues of this comic. Some of these one can buy here.

Second link leads to another shop, this time something for modern combat enthusiasts in 28 mm scale. Empress Miniatures is known from terrific miniatures (not only moderns of course). Besides modern SAS and modern US infantry, there is a growing range of taliban forces. Newest addition seems to be HMG team. Pricey but really nice.

And last link today is for Battlefront forum (registration required but it is really worth it IMHO). Shawn shows there one of his game tables. Few dozens of photos with one of the best wargaming tables I have seen in 20 years of playing such games. Picture included above is from this thread. Enjoy!

Whole DBA Gallic II/11 army is finished. Miniatures by Corvus Belli, 95% from boxed army deal, few miniatures are from blister packs offered by CB. Painted with Citadel, Vallejo Model and Game Color paints. Please leave a comment or "like/don't like" click.

Last part of gallic army stands on my table - camp, or more properly, variation on the theme of the camp. I wanted to build part of the gallic village first, but Zwierzak777 was first with this idea for his Gallic army (great minds think alike, heh;)) so I decided to make something else and not so typical. I bought a blister pack of "Celtic peasants" this summer and there was three really eye catching miniatures there - celtic warrior with pitchfork, woman with child and young boy. I decided to use these miniatures to make a little "diorama". And here it is - my peaceful, friendly (especially to Romans) Gauls are cultivating their soil... Hay needs to be gathered for winter... Suddenly wife of my peasant is hurrying to him crying out loud - "Husband! My husband! Traitorous Romans are approaching! To arms!" Oblivious to the danger young son is busy with his apple, little he knows that the world as he knows it is closing to the end... Julius Ceasar is approaching, noting first verses of his work:

Galia est omnis divisa in partes tres

Quorum unam incolunt Belgae aliam Aquitani

Tertiam qui ipsorum lingua Celtae nostra Gali apelantur

And gallic hills will be red from the spilled blood.... But this is another story.

Haystack, tree and hay on the ground are handmade by myself. The best part of these things are tree roots I think. As the rest of the things they are made from greenstuff. Making this camp was a nice little fun project, gave me a little break from my work and painting of besli riders.

20th issue of "Kolekcja wozów bojowych" will present a family of British tanks Challenger and Challenger 2 and it's deveratives, conflicts where these tanks fought and experimental and prototype vehicles. Ready diecast metal replica of Challenger 2 (British colors, 2nd Gulf War) will be bundled with the magazine.

Something entirely not historical this time - Eldar Fire Dragon painted by my brother Mormeg. Asked about painting he couldn't remember anything specific except paints used - Citadels for sure. I'll add that he is REALLY slow painter (even slower then myself if it is possible at all). He is admirer of everything with pale skin color and pointy ears. Active wargamer for many, many years, all his armies of pointyeared elves and eldars are in state of eternal "unfinishing". Miniatures painted as the one shown here are intermixed with bare metals and plastics:) I will show Mormeg's miniatures sometimes, I think they are worth it.

First compulsory element for my III/40b Viking army - housecarls, elite warriors of scandinavian lords. Baueda's miniatures are armed with long two handed axes called "danish axes". This weapon may look heavy and unwieldy but modern experiments proved that it can be easily used in pretty tight formations and effect of its usage is dreadful - there are known historic cases of horses' heads being chopped off in one strike. We can only imagine how terrible wounds it caused to humans, even in chainmails.

Painting was very straightforward as miniatures are clad in chainmail - black basecoat, then drybrushing with metallic paint, delicate black and brown washed. Other parts, as trousers, flesh areas, hairs are painted in my standard way - base color, dark wash, highlight (or three;)). Painting was really fast - especially as there are no shields and I spend a lot of time painting them usually. I have had a feeling of working on a small unit of Norsca dwarves while painting these miniatures:) In DBA this unit is element of 4Bd.

I'd like to draw your attention to the French blog, author has a weak spot for Polish Renaissance army. I'm not a specialist in this period (any period tbh) by any means but his miniatures are, simply, gorgeous. His whole blog is worth to check as the author paints very well and is interested in many periods and genres. Newest entry with Teutonic Knights is really worth looking at too...

Second information today is a new plastic box Norman Knights set being published by Conquest Games company. They look great and I want to buy at least one. Painted Normans from thix box set are visible next to the blognote.

Some of You know German sculptor Ebob. He just announced a new line of miniatures - Vietnam War. Miniatures will be supplemented by rules and some palm trees, bushes, etc. You can see samples of first miniatures on the page - LARP patrol and Vietnam squad. Rules, called Recon 28, are squad based and skirmish level.

And finally one more 15 mm army from talented hands of Eddy, Carthaginians this time. Eddy's two other armies were presented a week ago. Enjoy:)

I have had mixed feelings after my dip experiments. It really speeds up painting, even with making additional highlights after dipping, on the other hand, I wasn't truly satisfied with final result as I wasn't able to reach true matt finish. Dipped miniature is VERY glossy and it looks ugly. It really needs to be matt varnished. I tried many producers and products - artistic matt varnish by Talens, matt finish by Pactra, matt finish by Model Master, some old artistic varnish from my box of old "stuff"... And nothing. I could get satin finish at best, noticeable on the table and really visible on the photos. I tried to buy Testors Dull-Cote matt finish, the best matt product in opinion of many painters but it is not available in European Union countries for 5 or 6 years. American webstores won't sell it to Poland due to health hazards issues I think. So I decided to give a try to Army Painter Antishine Matt spray. One can easily buy it in Poland but it's not cheap (as most Army Painter products here). And, Ladies and Gentlemen, this is IT! Miniatures coated with this spray are TOTALLY matt. It looks great, no white artefacts, no fog issues, everything looks really, deeply matt. Little comparision is visible on the photos - miniatures on the left side are coated with Army Painter stuff, on the right are coated with Testors matt varnish. Effect is even more visible in person. I have just one issue with this varnish - it smells terrible. Ventillated room is a must.

Finally! My full option Gallic II/11 by Corvus Belli proudly stands on my shelf. I will make photos of complete army when the camp will be ready, probably next week, but here it is last of the elements - LCh (Gen). I decided to paint it in brighter, more vivid colors then two ordinary chariots, chieftain wheeled bringer of death deserves something special. As with previous model I opened the sides of the chariot too but this time it was much faster - I'm getting better;). I spent a little more time then usual on figures, especially chieftain. Overall painting time was similar to previous chariots though - probably due to lack of shields and easy colors of horses. I don't like to paint white horses to be honest, it's hard to get right highlights and shadows but I couldn't resist making these funny dots after I found picture of real such horses. They do look like splashed with paint but it is just illusion;) Reins are made from thin strips of paper strenghtened with superglue.

There is a painting contest on the "Fire and sword" board, so I bought a box of miniatures dedicated to this upcoming Polish wargame. I chose Ottoman Empire unit called besli riders. They were light cavalrymen protecting borders, making scouting raids, etc. Box - as every box produced by Wargamer - is very sturdy and with a nice color cover with a photo of unit. All miniatures are packed in zipped plastic bags and protected by layer of foam filler. There are 18 miniatures inside. My box has five different horses poses (four poses of four models, one pose with two miniatures) and six poses of riders (two poses of two models, two of three and two poses of four models). It will certainly be enough to make varied unit. Some of the riders poses are similar though - hands, arms and heads being slightly twisted or in a slightly changed position. Both horses and riders are anatomically correct and proportional, but horses are rather on the large side, riders seem much more closer to the 15 mm scale. Sculpting is nice and clear, there are many details sculpted on but it is not very deep. Mould lines on riders are barely visible, most of them are hidden in clothes' folds. Horses are, unfortunately, much worse. There are visible, high mould lines, there is a lot of flash (that one is easy to remove though) and EVERY leg on every horse have some kind of strange artifact, looking like metal cooling too fast or mould being old. It looks like mould lines repeated all over the leg. Horse metal is very soft, very easy to work with. It is so soft in fact, that it is very easy to bend all legs or broke the tail off. Riders are cast in harder alloy, still pleasant to work with but not so easily damaged. Box contains metal bases for miniatures (about 1 mm thick) and a set of metal spears. They need to be glued inside open arms of the riders. Additionally there is a set of three banners included in the box, they are printed on selfadhesive paper. Very nice set, with horse so large being a little on the con side.

I will try to present few links every week leading to wargaming "things" I like - photos of painted miniatures, new painting method or just something useful or cool.

First links today lead to the gallery of DBMM player, which was shown on TMP too. I don't know much about painter of those armies besides that he is a pro graphic. Anyway, those two armies are really great. First is Communal Italian army, second Nikephorian Byzantines. Both are in 15 mms.

Second link leads to free paper building model available at www.davesgames.net. It is a medieval/fantasy kind of coach house showing skill of its creator David Graffam. You can read more about it here.

Last but not least - two Saxon leaders painted by Tolcrothlogan. Both miniatures are excellent. Please note realistic blood - painter writes how to make it in this TMP thread.

I painted the most characteristic part of the viking army - berserkers (3Wb element in DBA). Figures by Baueda are really characterful, they are wrapped in wolven pelts, with bare torsos, etc. Well - bare torsos are not really historically accurate as far as I know but they do look nice. Interestingly, not many things are known for sure about these norsemen warriors. Scientists argue about how do they worked themselves into a battle frenzy, if they fight alone or in groups, even etymology of name "berserker" is not clear. Vikings are mysterious even today. Baueda's miniatures represents ulfhednars - warriors with wolves pelts, which were known as sons of Odin during their rage. Speaking about sons of Odin - here it is great song "Sons of Odin" by Manowar from the album "Gods of War". It is one of my favourite records. Link has some rather nice video of Warhammer and WH40K game intros intertwined together, with song being played as a kind of music track.

After the Gallic chariot it's time for another optional element from Viking III/40b army, 3Bd unit. I chose three norsemen with swords, representing most numerous element of viking society, bondi - land-owning free men. During cleaning miniatures I noticed that they are a little on the flat side - probably one of the effects of casting them together with shields. To mask it a little I changed my painting style. Instead multilayered highlights and shadows I made very sharp and contrasting highlights directly on washed and just a little bit highlighted surfaces. I think they are a little more "three-dimensional" thanks to it now. Anyway, after painting the shields I noticed that miniatures look more or less ok on they own. Shields made nice focus point for a viewer. As with two previous viking elements painting was really fast (for my standards) and I think it too just a little longer then work on the base itself. Painting is really easy with these deep sculpted Baueda miniatures.

Second gallic chariot is ready and... I'd like to forget it's cleaning proccess as soon as possible. Corvus Belli army deal box I've got has two of the three chariots with a body with light, open sides. Well, they should have openings as due to limitations of casting they are made fully in metal. So after looking at them I decided that model will look much better with properly open sides. I drilled series of holes at the appropriate places and then filed down all leftovers of unnecessary metal with very small and delicate file, the only one I've got which I could put into the tiny holes... Well, it took me few hours but final effect is worth it I think.

Chariot is painted almost exactly in the same way as previous one, I changed only colors a bit (to be closer to a drawing from Osprey's by Angus McBride) and a way I painted wheels spokes. They seems a bit cleaner and more defined to me now. My Gallic army is just one element (LCh(Gen) and camp short.